“Applejack…” Mac walked across the farmyard of Sweet Apple Acres towards Applejack. She was just back from the east orchard with a cart of apples, and it was getting close to lunch time.

“Yeah?” She stopped and waited for him.

“I need to talk to you.” He leaned in close. “In private.”

“Okay…” Applejack said slowly. Mac was frowning, but he didn’t seem worried. She motioned for him to follow her into the barn, then unhitched the cart from herself and shut the door.

“What’s goin’ on, big brother?” she asked as she started to unload bushels of apples.

“The plowshare’s dented, I hit a rock yesterday,” he said with the same frown. More of a scowl, really, Applejack thought as she looked at him.

“Okay, well, use the old plow ‘til we get it fixed,” she suggested, though she was getting the sneaking suspicion that something wasn’t right. Mac knew what to do when the plow broke.

“Funny you should mention that, 'cause I was in the tool shed lookin’ for it, and you’ll never guess what I found in the back…”

Applejack blinked. Mac didn’t talk much, but that was only because he saved his breath for when he had a point to make. That was a strange thing for him to say a full sentence for. For just a moment, Applejack couldn’t guess, and she wracked her mind for anything unusual somepony might have stored there.

Then she remembered. The riding saddle. Her eyes slowly grew large. Mac couldn’t have found that, nopony was supposed to find it, nopony was supposed to know… She looked at her brother and saw his narrowed eyes and clenched jaw.

“I— I can explain—” she stammered, knowing full well that she really couldn’t.

“What in the HELL is wrong with you?!” Mac roared, ears laying back in anger. “Are you outta your everlovin’ mind?!”

Applejack took a step backwards on instinct. Mac was a big stallion.

Unless a pony was an earth pony slave living before the first Hearth’s Warming, there really was no good reason to have a heavy, contoured, leather saddle designed to carry another pony comfortably. The only reason for a riding saddle to exist at all was as a hateful reminder to earth ponies of a time when they were openly abused. So Applejack had the feeling that her explanation for why she’d hidden one in the Sweet Apple Acres tool shed was going to fly about as well as a cement chicken.

She had to say something, so she went on, “It’s just for a game, Mac. For pretend. One of them, uh, personal type games me and Dash play.”

“So it is Rainbow Dash who’s treatin’ you like that.” He shook his head. “I shoulda known, I never did trust that good for nothin’ bunch of ponyfeathers.”

“Dash ain’t like that!” Applejack said quickly. “Honest, Mac, she’s a good marefriend!”

“And I never thought you’d stand up for a pony like that.” Mac glared at her in disgust. “I thought you had some self-respect.”

“I got plenty self-respect!” Applejack stomped a hoof. “Will ya’ just listen to me? Me and Dash take turns. Some nights I tie her up, and some nights she bosses me around. We don’t even use the saddle all that often, just sometimes we have Rarity over, and we—”

“Oh, Rarity too? So you’re the whole town’s mudpony?” Mac snapped, the slur hitting Applejack like a hoof to the face.

“Don’t you dare throw that word at me!” She leapt towards Mac, landing right in front of him. Her eyes narrowed and ears laid back as she shouted in his face, “What I do is my own business! Rainbow Dash is my marefriend, and Rarity’s one of my best friends, and they both love me!”

“I bet they do,” Mac said in an icy voice. “You tellin’ me you let them put you in a ridin’ saddle and ride you around, and you don’t wonder how they look at other earth ponies? You don’t wonder if maybe they’re thinkin’ the old days sound kinda fun, and they wouldn’t mind ownin’ a ridin’ pony if they could? Ownin’ you, even?”

“They don’t think stuff like that! They don’t own me, and I can stop anything, anytime! It’s a game, can’t you get that through your thick skull?”

“AJ, our kin were ridin’ ponies. It wasn’t no game, they were used and beaten and raped.” Mac shook his head. “Seein’ my own sister bein’ so disrespectful of that that she’s playin’ games of it with a pegasus and a unicorn… it makes me sick.”

“So what do I gotta do to be respectful in your book?” Applejack asked with a sneer.

“Get rid of that piece of trash, for one thing, and never even think of bringin’ somethin’ like that on our farm.” Mac looked her in the eye, dead serious. “And you oughta stop seein’ Rainbow Dash. I shoulda told you from the start, you oughta find a good earth pony mare.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “And you’re sayin’ she’s a bigot?”

“I ain’t the one playin’ at ownin’ ponies!” he snapped. “I want my sisters to be strong, proud, earth pony mares. Even if that ain’t important to you, you at least oughta be a role model for Apple Bloom.”

“As it happens, I am a strong, proud, earth pony mare! Just about the strongest and proudest in all Equestria, bein’ as I run a farm and do my part in town and go hoof to hoof with the same stuff the other girls do for the princesses, and I’m the only one ‘em that don’t got wings or a horn or whatever it is Pinkie’s got. And I don’t say a damn word about it, I just get it done the best I can. So if I wanna wear a ridin’ saddle and let my marefriend ride me while I lick a unicorn’s cunt, I reckon I got every damn right to do it!”

Applejack’s face was already hot with anger, but it occurred to her that this was not the kind of conversation she wanted to have with her brother. It did seem to have shocked him out of his rage, though, he was looking away to avoid eye contact.

She took a deep breath and went on in a more even tone, “Now what I don’t get is how the kind of sex I’m havin’ has anything to do with what kind of role model I am for Apple Bloom. You think I’m gonna tell her about this?”

Mac looked back over at her. The anger had melted away, but he still wore a grim expression. “I think she’s gonna see you runnin’ around with a pony who don’t respect you and think she don’t deserve respect neither.”

“Macintosh.” Applejack rubbed her face in exasperation. “What world are you livin’ in where Dash don’t respect me? When have you ever seen her do somethin’ disrespectful of me?”

“When she used her wings in that contest y’all had.”

Applejack waved a hoof. “That was a silly contest, and it was years ago!”

“And Braeburn said she sided with the buffalo over the earth ponies when y’all went to Appleloosa.”

“Which was also years ago, and both sides were actin’ foolish, earth ponies included!” Applejack stomped a hoof. “Rainbow Dash respects me as much as she respects anythin’, and if she’s got problems with that it ain’t ‘cause I’m an earth pony.”

“I don’t buy it. Sis, I’m tryin’ to look out for you. Anypony who’s thinkin’ about somethin’ like that as fun has some problems respectin’ earth ponies.” He looked at her pointedly. “And any earth pony who’d go along with it has some problems respectin’ themselves.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Ya’ know, this really ain’t your business.”

“Then keep that thing off our farm,” he said, turning to finish unloading the apple cart.

“I’ll keep whatever I want on our farm. I gotta go, I’m meetin’ my friends for lunch.” Applejack turned to march out the door, but she paused halfway there and said over her shoulder, “And don’t you dare tell a soul about this, Mac. I know what you think of me, but I really don’t want the rest of the town thinkin’ it too.”

“Eeyup,” he answered, not bothering to look at her.

“Thanks.”

Once she was out of the barn, Applejack took off down the road to Ponyville at a fast trot. She was still a little shaken by the fight, and the exercise helped clear her mind.

It wasn’t quite fall yet, but it was getting close enough that the midday air wasn’t sweltering and the evening promised to be crisp and cool. The perfect kind of night for playing with Dash in the barn, in fact, and since she’d have to find a new place for the saddle anyway…

She wondered what was wrong with her. A lot of what Mac said was true, she’d thought about it before. A riding saddle was a serious thing, a lot of ponies suffered in saddles like the one in the shed. She always thought of herself as a pony who respected where she came from, but playing with a riding saddle didn't really line up with that.

She also thought of herself as a proud pony, and it seemed to her that nopony could deny that with a straight face. She was even proud of what she did in the saddle, which was a funny thing, because it was all about overcoming her pride. That’s what they did, she had to admit, with that saddle and Dash’s help as her mistress they could shove away everything inside of her that told her to stand tall so that she could take the awful stuff Dash and Rarity could come up with.

Even running down the road she felt a shiver of arousal at the thought. What was wrong with her? She was a strong, proud, earth pony mare who used the worst part of earth pony history to shame herself into submission and thought it was sexy. That sure didn’t sound right…

But it was a game, she reminded herself as she crossed the bridge into Ponyville. None of it was real, the real part of her was the part that did stand strong and proud, that respected her history. If all the bad parts of herself stayed in the dark, between her and Dash and Rarity, where was the harm in that? Mac was making a big fuss over nothing.

Applejack relaxed as she made her way through town to the Carousel Boutique. Rarity had some fancy new tea and cookies from Canterlot and decided she’d fix up some little sandwiches and have her friends over. Fluttershy and Pinkie couldn’t make it, but Twilight and Rainbow Dash were already in the front showroom with Rarity as Applejack walked in the door.

“Applejack, darling, I’m so glad you could make it. Come, everypony, this way.” Rarity chirped happily, leading the group to a back room where she had set a table with a white cloth and a frilly tea set and plates of little triangle sandwiches. Applejack took a seat next to Dash, who smiled and ran a wing down AJ’s back.

“Hey,” Dash said, but the smile fell from her face as she noticed Applejack’s distracted expression. “You okay?”

“Yeah…” Applejack replied automatically, then she realize that wasn’t exactly convincing. “Yeah! Just lookin’ forward to some grub.”

“Help yourself, darling, I made extra sandwiches. I know that you and Rainbow don’t have tea party appetites.”

Applejack gave another automatic reply, “Thanks.”

“AJ, what’s wrong?” Dash pressed.

Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes. “I had a big ol’ fight with Mac just before I left.”

Rarity’s magic floated a teapot around the table, filling cups. “About what, darling?”

Applejack considered a moment. “I don’t wanna talk about it much, but… that box I got hidden in the back of the tool shed. He found it.” She looked at Dash and Rarity pointedly.

“What do you have hidden in your tool shed?” Twilight asked, floating a tea sandwich and cookie to her plate.

“Nothing!” Dash said quickly to Twilight, then she turned to Applejack. “What did he say about it?”

Applejack frowned. “I don’t got no self-respect or respect for our kin, you girls don’t respect me or earth ponies, and I’m a bad role model for Apple Bloom.”

“That’s preposterous!” Rarity said, setting down her tea cup with a gentle clatter.

Twilight looked at Applejack, confused. “No, really, what was in that box?”

Dash’s mouth was hanging open. “He really thinks I’m— AJ, you told him he’s wrong, right?”

“Of course I did!” Applejack snorted. “Didn’t change nothin’, but I asked him not to tell, for me. The mood he’s in, if it was for you girls he’d probably be takin’ out a full page ad in the Canterlot paper.”

“He really won’t say anything?” Dash pleaded. “If this gets back to Cloudsdale, I am dead. The Wonderbolts don’t mess around with this stuff...”

“GIRLS!” Twilight shouted, making the other three ponies at the table jump.

She went on calmly but firmly. “What are we talking about? What did Mac find in the tool shed?”

Applejack looked uncertainly towards Dash, who wore a pained look, but rubbed her face with her hoof and nodded. A glance at Rarity got another nod as she calmly sipped her tea.

A blush grew on Applejack’s cheeks, and she looked down at her tea cup as she muttered. “A… ridin’ saddle.”

Twilight blinked. “You’re joking. Why— how— where did it come from?”

“This shop in Canterlot,” Dash said. “They have a catalog. There’s some really crazy—”

“You bought it?” Twilight stared incredulously at Dash.

Dash’s eyes went wide. “You can NOT tell anypony!”

Twilight just held her stare. “You bought a riding saddle. For your earth pony marefriend. How could you even think of something like that? How did that ever seem like a good idea?”

As little as Applejack wanted this conversation, she had to defend Dash, “It’s a sex thing, Twilight. Me and Dash take turns… bein’ on top. For her turn, she brought it up with me, pretendin’ I was her ridin’ pony.”

Twilight turned to Applejack and raised an eyebrow. “...and you slapped her and she never mentioned it again and nothing else happened?”

“I said I’d try it. I like things that are hard to take, and where that put me… it was like nothin’ else. Angry and scared and embarrassed and damn turned on. Then Dash invited Rarity over, and that was even more of everything. So when we were done, neither of those two could have something like that around their places, ponies might think they’re… ya’ know, so I put it away. We’ve used it a time or two, I like it but it’s sure not for every day.”

Twilight nodded and covered her eyes with her hoof. “Okay, let me get this straight. Rainbow Dash buys you guys an incredibly loaded symbol of the subjugation of your tribe, then invites Rarity over so they can pretend to humiliate and rape you. You enjoy it so much that when you’re done you store said symbol in your shed where Mac finds it and is concerned about your self-image and your marefriend’s treatment of you like any sane pony would be.” She looked around the table. “Is that the situation?”

Applejack cringed. “Not all the words I woulda used, but that’s the long and short of it.”

“Rainbow…” Twilight seemed to be searching for words. “Have you always been this… well... tribalist?”

“I’m not tribalist!” Dash protested. “Owning another pony is totally wrong. My marefriend is an earth pony, earth ponies are awesome!”

“Then why would you buy Applejack a riding saddle?” Twilight asked, raising her eyebrows.

“She asked me about it first, Twi. I said it was okay,” Applejack pointed out.

Dash nodded. “It was a sexy game!”

Twilight shook her head. “We are not talking about a pair of hoofcuffs, Rainbow! This is a thing that was actually used on enslaved earth ponies, and you wanted to use it on an earth pony, which is going to make ponies wonder how you feel about them.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Well you can stop wondering because I like earth ponies!”

“Then why would you want to treat them like that?” Twilight crossed her forelegs.

“Not earth ponies, just AJ.” Dash wrapped a soft, warm wing around Applejack. “She was okay with it and we had a safeword. It’s not like I’d want to do that to some random earth pony who didn’t want it.”

Rarity had been calmly sipping her tea, but spoke up, “Twilight, Rainbow is not tribalist. If she was she would hardly enjoy the game this much. Everypony involved was clear that this was something we should not be doing, on every level— naturally it is wrong to enslave ponies. It’s also wrong to taunt and humiliate them. On top of that, Applejack specifically is such a strong-willed, admirable pony that the very idea her being forced to do the things we did to her is cruel and horrible. The entire scenario was perverted in every sense of the word, and that’s what’s attractive about it.”

“You don’t feel even a little bit guilty about that?” Twilight asked Rarity, but the question made Applejack look down at her plate where five little sandwiches sat untouched. “Real ponies were slaves. Real ponies got hurt by ponies acting like you were pretending to act. And there are even some awful ponies out there who still don’t think earth ponies should be equal to the other tribes, and when you’re pretending, you’re going to sound like them.”

“But we’re not like them, because it was pretend,” Dash pointed out. “Like Rarity said, it totally wouldn’t have been sexy if we thought that stuff.”

Twilight went on to Rarity, “I don’t even know how you got involved in this. Is that something you two do, sit around and talk about your tribalist fetishes?”

Rarity blushed. “More tea, anypony?”

Applejack hadn’t considered that before, and the question planted a seed of doubt in her already guilty mind. “Yeah, how did Dash know you’d wanna play something like this with us?”

She cleared her throat and glanced at Dash, who shrugged, so Rarity started, “Well, you see, after the Gala, Rainbow commented on how attractive your dress was on you…”

“I said the way the back part was brown made me think of a riding pony, and it was totally, like, off the charts hot.”

Applejack’s eyes went wide.

“Which I certainly did not intend, of course!” Rarity hurried to explain. “With the colors and your torso, it was the right shape to emphasize your very attractive figure, it never even occurred to me at the time.”

“But she agreed,” Dash pointed out.

Rarity’s blush deepened. “Well, when it was pointed out…”

Applejack couldn’t do anything but stare in shock. That her friends had been thinking something like that about her was downright creepy… she had never given them any indication she’d be okay with it back then. And she wasn’t okay with it now, nopony should be thinking of her like that when they weren’t playing, not her friends, and not… oh, Celestia...

Applejack turned to Twilight and asked in a thin, dazed voice, “Do ya' think the ponies in Canterlot noticed?”

Twilight had been staring at Rarity and Dash with much the same open-mouthed expression, but her face filled with sympathy as she turned to Applejack. “I’m sure they didn’t. I didn’t notice or I would have said something right away.”

“I didn’t notice, and I designed the dress,” Rarity added. “And I apologize profusely, you can’t imagine how embarrassed I was when Rainbow pointed it out.”

Applejack swallowed hard. “Trust me, I can.” She shook her head. “Look, just never do somethin’ like that to me again.”

Rarity nodded. “I assure you I’ve been careful since that day.”

Applejack turned slowly to Rainbow Dash, who was rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. Applejack just stared as she tried to wrap her mind around it. “And you… Mac was right. You do think about it.”

Dash gave an exasperated sigh. “I don’t think, like, ‘gosh, I wish somepony would enslave earth ponies again so I could own AJ and make her do stuff.’ I think ‘if I could make AJ do whatever I wanted, I’d make her do really sexy stuff.’ Which I did, and you loved it.”

“Nopony is suggesting that you want to enslave earth ponies. I think we would have noticed something like that before now,” Twilight pointed out. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t have ways of thinking of earth ponies that are different from how you think of unicorns or pegasi—”

“Well, yeah, because earth ponies are different from unicorns or pegasi,” Dash cut in.

“—and your way of thinking about them seems to include turning that aspect of who AJ is into a tool for abuse,” Twilight finished.

“Hey, I never abused AJ! She was okay with it!” Dash protested, but Applejack was looking at her long and hard.

“If I wasn’t okay with it, would you still think about me bein’ a riding pony?” she asked. Dash turned to look at her and Applejack saw the expected answer in her eyes. She clenched her jaw and glared at her marefriend.

“What do you want me to say?” Dash asked her. “The idea of my totally hot marefriend, who I love, by the way, doing whatever I want is sexy. I can pretend I don’t notice, but if I see you in a saddle I’m gonna think of it.” When Applejack’s face didn’t soften in the least, Dash went on defensively, “You probably get turned on when you see me tied up, and nopony would think that’s bad.”

Applejack raised her eyebrows. “You can’t think that’s the same thing.”

“Yeah,” Twilight agreed. “There’s no dark and disturbing period in pony history where ponies tied up pegasi on a regular basis.”

“But if I don’t like it, how is that different?”

“It's different for the very reason you find it more attractive than the idea of getting tied up: It’s taboo.” Rarity gave Dash a sympathetic look. “It can be frustrating, in more ways than one, to be attracted to something specifically because one shouldn’t be. But it’s important to remember that there are taboos for a reason, and often those reasons should be considered along with one’s own gratification.”

Applejack and Dash both blinked at Rarity, who rolled her eyes. ”Being thought of as a riding pony will deeply hurt an earth pony’s feelings. You can think it’s sexy, but you shouldn’t forget that or assume they'll be okay with it.”

Applejack nodded. “Dash, if I’d been born then, we wouldn’t be friends, let alone marefriends. Y’all would barely think of me as a pony, I could be somepony’s property to keep or sell or… well, use me like I let y’all use me. But I wouldn’t be lettin’ ‘em. It’s scary to think, but it ain’t my imagination, it really happened. My kin were ridin’ ponies.”

“I’m not thinking about it like that, AJ. I want you to like it,” Dash said, but she was looking down at her tea. Applejack wondered if she’d gotten through to Dash, but then Dash went on, “Besides, my ancestors were from Olympony before Equestria was founded.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Applejack asked.

“Cloud city. They didn’t have riding ponies,” Dash said with a shrug. “I mean, they weren’t awesome, they did spend a couple of centuries trying to kill all the griffons, but riding ponies were the ground pegasi and the unicorns.”

“I have no idea if my family had riding ponies, and I’m not sure why it might matter if they did.” Rarity arched an eyebrow.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “It don’t."

“My family owned riding ponies,” Twilight said calmly. “A lot of them. You guys don’t think it’s scary that ponies who were related to me might have owned ponies who were related to AJ?”

Dash frowned and fidgeted with her tea cup. “Twilight, it’s weird, but it’s literally ancient history.”

“Which you purposely evoked to make Applejack uncomfortable.” Twilight went on before Dash could protest, “I know, she asked you to make her uncomfortable, but rather than something like pretending that you were her teacher, or the farm inspector or something, your mind went to subjugating earth ponies.”

“It didn’t— look, I’m not, like, obsessed with this!” Dash slumped back, forelegs crossed. “I don’t have anything against earth ponies, no matter what you and Mac think. I’m in love with an earth pony.” She turned to Applejack. “AJ, I love you. I didn’t mean anything bad by the saddle, you know that, it just seemed really sexy.”

Applejack shook her head. “I love ya' too, Dash. I know you didn’t mean nothin’, Dash. And it was fun. But… maybe this ain’t somethin’ we ougha be playin’ with. It just causes a bunch of problems.”

“Okay.” Dash nodded a little sadly. “Just, make sure Mac doesn’t go around saying things about it.”

“Mac won’t say nothin’,” Applejack said, frowning. She wasn’t sure what to say to Mac. He had been right, Dash really had thought about doing those things before she bothered to ask AJ how she felt, before it was a game, and knowing that didn’t feel good.

“Cool. Rarity, you said you had more of these sandwiches?” Dash leaned over and swept half the pile onto her plate.

Applejack looked down at the table, where her sandwiches sat untouched and her tea was cold. “Here, Dash, you can have mine.” She slid her plate over. “I ain’t hungry. I guess I oughta be gettin’ home.”

Rarity frowned. “Are you sure, darling? I believe the conversation will be more pleasant from now on.”

“I bet it will…” Applejack agreed as she stood to leave.

Twilight stood as well, looking concerned. “AJ, do you need somepony to talk to? I can walk with you.”

“Nah, I’m fine.” Applejack gave Twilight a false smile. “Just, uh, got some chores to get done and might as well get to ‘em. Sorry to cut this short, Rarity.”

“If you really feel you must leave… I understand.” Rarity looked Applejack in the eye. “I’m sorry, Applejack.”

“It’s okay.” Applejack nodded and headed to the door. “I’ll see you gals later.”

Applejack started slowly through Ponyville back towards Sweet Apple Acres, not in any hurry to see Mac again. She had stood up for Rainbow Dash because she thought she knew her. She thought Dash saw her as an absolute equal; that's why they loved going head to head in contests and why they could trust each other to be on top when they were fooling around, because they both knew neither of them was really better than the other.

She wasn’t sure she’d ever be comfortable with Dash being in charge during sex from now on. At the moment, she wasn’t sure she’d be comfortable even wearing clothes around Dash— she’d have to worry about an innocent winter saddle giving Dash the wrong ideas. And the worst part, the thing that really hurt, was that as much as she knew this was all Dash’s fault, that Dash was the one with the damn fool way of thinking of her, there was still a tiny voice in the back of her head, saying You’re an earth pony, what’d ya expect?

That was just dumb, of course, that voice always was. That voice was the reason she stood so tall and pushed herself so hard, so there was no excuse to not expect the same as anypony else. And there were plenty of ponies who didn’t agree with that voice— Twilight, for one. Though, given Twilight’s reaction she had to guess that she wouldn’t be into using the riding saddle for fun, either. Maybe Mac was right, and the only ponies who would use that were ponies who had trouble respecting earth ponies. And thinking about how good it felt, she had to admit that maybe she was one of those ponies.

She was just coming to the edge of her orchards when she saw Rainbow Dash leaning against the fence. Applejack smiled sadly, in spite of everything.

“I reckon I oughta be surprised you didn’t show up sooner.”

“I left right after you, but I figured you wouldn’t wanna talk in town, with other ponies around,” Dash said, falling into step next to her. “So, what’s wrong?”

“I dunno. Nothin’. I’ll be fine.” Applejack shook her head.

Dash was quiet for a moment, then she wrapped a wing around Applejack and said, “AJ, tell me the truth… I didn't really make you feel bad about being an earth pony, did I?”

“Not with the ridin’ saddle. I agreed to that, and I had a damn good time—”

“I knew it.” Dash smiled and rolled her eyes. “Twilight and Mac were reading way too much into this!”

Applejack frowned and went on, “But… ya’ still did make me feel bad, when you said that you can’t help thinking about me as a ridin’ pony when ya’ see me in a normal saddle.”

Dash’s wing twitched on her back, as if she was deciding to remove it, but she left it there and said, “I didn’t mean any saddle, AJ, just if it looks kinda like a riding saddle…”
Applejack glared at her. “I don’t like you thinkin’ of me like that when I didn’t tell ya’ you could, and I don’t care what I’m wearin’! It makes me feel like however strong I am, you’re thinkin’ of me bowin’ in front of you and kissin your hooves, that ain’t how I want other ponies to think of me, especially not my own marefriend!”

“Come on, AJ, I know you. I know you’re not like that at all. It’s just something sexy to think about, like you tying me up. I think about that too, you know.” Dash’s wing gave her a squeeze, which did calm her enough to stop the glare.

“I don’t mind that one as much ‘cause it’s about us, not about me bein’ an earth pony.” Applejack looked down. “And I know ya' think it's sexy to think of me as a ridin' pony, I think it's sexy too. But when you think about it and we ain't playin', when it ain't somethin' I can stop and quit... well, it makes me feel like you don’t respect me as much as you'd respect a unicorn or a pegasus mare.”

Dash gave a snort. “That’s stupid! AJ, I totally respect you, all the time, more than almost anypony in the world!”

“Then how about respectin’ that’s how I feel?” Applejack said, raising an eyebrow.

Dash nodded. “Okay. Fine. That’s how you feel. I’m sorry I think stuff like that. But what do you want me to do about it? I can’t not think of it, that’s like trying not to think of Princess Celestia in a scuba mask. See? You just thought about Princess Celestia in a scuba mask. You can’t not do it.”

Applejack shook her head to remove the thought of Princess Celestia in a scuba mask and thought about the problem. Dash was right, if it was something that just popped into her mind, it wasn't’ like she could stop that.

Finally she cocked her head to the side. “Can ya’ just… know it’s wrong?”

“Well, yeah, sure.” Dash shrugged. “I mean, I kinda knew that already.”

Applejack shook her head. “No, I mean it’s like when ya’ notice another pony’s hot.”

Dash glanced at AJ out of the corner of her eye. “... no way. I’m in enough trouble today. I never think other ponies are hot.”

Applejack chuckled a little. “Ya’ ain’t in trouble. And nopony can help noticin’ a nice flank on another pony, but when ya’ already got a special somepony what do ya’ do?”

Dash smirked. “Imagine a threesome?”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Is there a thought that goes through your head that doesn’t tick me off?”

Dash bumped against Applejack playfully. “I’m kidding, AJ. Unless it’s something special I think you’d be into, I remind myself how hot you are and think about your flanks instead.”

“There ya’ go.” Applejack smiled. “So maybe, if ya’ find yourself thinkin’ of me in a ridin’ saddle, you could stop that and think ‘bout somethin’ else that’s just as hot?”

“I could try that.” Dash looked up in thought. “Got any issues with me hiding behind your apple cart and eating you out while you try to wait on other ponies?”

Applejack’s eyes went wide. “Uh, well, no, I reckon… you ain’t allowed to do that, but you can think it all ya’ want.”

Dash giggled. “Yeah, that’ll work.”

Applejack smiled and stepped closer to Dash so their sides brushed as they walked. “And if I can trust you to do that for me, I can trust you enough to have fun bein’ your ridin’ pony from time to time.”

“AJ, I know I’m a lucky pony,” Dash said, smiling at her. “If you weren’t the most awesome marefriend ever, I couldn’t even have mentioned the riding saddle. Even if you never wanna wear it again, I’d be dumb to keep doing something that makes you feel bad.”

“Thanks, Dash.” Applejack leaned over and nuzzled her marefriend as they walked through the gate to Sweet Apple Acres. “I needed to hear that.”

***

Late that afternoon, Applejack stood at the edge of the turnip field, leaning against the wooden fence as Mac pulled the old plow along the last row. He never glanced at her, but when he finished the row he pulled the plow over to where she was waiting and leaned against the fence next to her.

“I talked to Dash,” Applejack said, looking out over the neat rows of tilled earth. “You were right. There’s some things she thinks about ‘cause I’m an earth pony that I don't’ rightly appreciate.”

Mac was silent, but out of the corner of her eye Applejack caught the sympathetic expression on his face.

She went on with resolve, “But then we talked some more, and she knows what she been thinkin’ ain’t right, and she wants to try and fix it. ‘Cause she respects me, Mac, as an earth pony and everything else I am.”

Once again there was no response, not that she expected one. Mac had made his points already.

Applejack sighed. “I reckon I’m a lotta things, Mac. Some I’m proud of and some I ain’t, but you gotta trust me that I ain’t gonna let myself be ashamed of bein’ an earth pony. Part of me likes wearin’ a ridin’ saddle, and that part of me really ain’t any of your business.” She glanced at him with a gentle glare. “You ain’t the prince of all earth ponies, ya’ know, you don’t get to say what makes me feel bad.”

He raised his eyebrows, but after just a few seconds he nodded.

She nodded back and continued, “But I don’t get to leave stuff layin’ around that makes you feel bad. I know darn well what that thing is and what it means, and you got every right for the sight of it to boil your blood. You shouldn’t have to stumble on things that make ya’ angry, especially not on your own farm. So we gotta work things out.”

Applejack looked out over the fields again, to the orchard beyond. She thought for a moment about all the work she and Mac put into this place, together. No matter their differences they kept things growing. Sometimes that meant working side by side, and sometimes they just needed to get out of each other’s way, but it was all working together as long as the plants grew and harvest came on time.

“In the crawl space under the corn crib there’s a box of old trash.” Applejack said, her eyes still on the horizon. “I dunno why anypony would wanna mess with it, it ain’t like there’s anything under there, and it says ‘trash’ right there on the box. But it says not to throw it out and there’s a lock on it, just in case. If you ever need to get under there, lemme know and I’ll take care of it.”

Mac was silent for another few minutes, then nodded. “Eeyup.”

“And Rainbow Dash is still learnin’, so if you see her do anything bad, lemme know and I’ll talk to her. She’s a lotta things too, and some of ‘em need a hoof upside the head.” Applejack looked over at Mac and smiled. “But she’s a good pony, and I love her.”

Mac snorted and rolled his eyes. “Eeyup.”

Applejack walked over and gave Mac a nuzzle. “And I love you, too, Mac.”

He smiled and wrapped one of his big forelegs around Applejack, squeezing her in a hug. “Eeyup.”

Author's Note

A few things I want crystal clear:
The earth pony history presented is not intended to mirror any specific race, ethnicity, or other real world group of people, so there's no real world analogy that will exactly fit. It's intended to provide a fictional framework for discussing various real world issues.

No character, anywhere in the fic, suggested that anyone doesn't have the right to think whatever they want. They suggested that if ponies find out about those thoughts, there are repercussions. In other words, ponies care what other ponies think of them.

Thanks to Jake R, DbzOrDie, and Sunny Night for prereading. And thanks to PresentPerfect, Pav Feira, Whiteout, and Sunny Night for the conversation that inspired this.